My 100% True Story: How A Teenager’s Driving Death Saved My Life.

Apollo Tardy

Driver Education Initiative Award: In the Driver’s Seat Essay

29 November, 2020

My 100% True Story: How A Teenager’s Driving Death Saved My Life.

This year I turned 17, and like a lot of teenagers, this is the year I passed my driver’s license test. This year I also had a driving experience that almost took my life, and my Mom’s life too. But it didn’t, because I was prepared. Here’s my insight: An average of 34,000 people die in car accidents every year – a withering, unacceptable statistic. For teens like myself, I cannot be more upfront about how I think we can attack this problem: take driver education classes. Get schooled by people who are passionate about safe driving, people who understand death is real.

What motivates me to be so blunt? The death of a local kid. On his way to the gas station, he hit a culvert at high speed, lost control of his car, became airborne and slammed into a tree. That, ladies and gentleman, is how easy it is to die in a car accident. A split second mistake. No goodbyes, no prom. No high school graduation, no tomorrow. It’s tragic and it happens every single day.

When I get in a car, I make sure I’m awake and aware. I have a checklist I walk myself through. First, I switch off my cell phone. I adjust my mirrors and buckle up my seat belt, and make sure passengers are buckled up. But I want to let you in on a secret: sometimes the unforeseen happens, and that is when you have to really be prepared.

It was a recent Sunday afternoon, and I was driving my mother in my Jeep to visit my grandmother. I was stopped at the red light and I had my foot on the brake. At that second, I felt something inside the brake pedal snap. Strange, it had never happened before. Probably nothing, right? The light changed to green. I accelerated to 40mph, then I saw the next traffic light up ahead turn red. There was a vehicle ahead of me, already stopped. I put my foot on the brake. The brake pedal went all the way to the floor. My car did not slow down. Not even one bit. While my Mom sat in the passenger seat panicking, I shifted into Park. There was an ugly screeching sound. Then I pulled the hand brake all the way up while keeping control of the steering. Then, finally, I switched off the ignition and switched on the hazard lights. Phewwwww! I had avoided hitting the car in front literally by inches. We were safe. I had avoided a collision, injury and possibly much, much worse.

The adrenaline did not hit until later. We could have been hurt, we could have died. When Mom asked how I knew how to deal with the failed brakes, I told her it was simple: I had remembered an important lesson from my driver education class. If the foot brake ever fails, you should use the hand brake instead. I also remembered the other option I had been taught, which was to shift the car’s gear into Park. Because I was moving at 40mph, it would’ve been too dangerous to use the hand brake alone, so I used the park gear instead. It had been drilled into the back of my head, thanks to – that’s right – classes. Other people who have experienced brake failure were not so lucky. Nearly all other instances I have read about, have resulted in the driver crashing into the back of the vehicle ahead. Yes – crashing, injury and sometimes, death.

34,000 people is too many people to lose. Every person lost is someone’s friend or neighbor, sister or brother, daughter or son. It’s horrific. For me, the trigger is the memory of the devastating loss of one teen’s life in a pointless car accident – flesh and blood, metal and glass, wrapped around an old oak.

It happens too easily, too often, and it has to stop. Our lives depend on it. If you are going to be in the driver’s seat, take that extra time to learn driving skills from dedicated, motivated professionals. We owe it to ourselves, our family and friends, and our entire community. We all share the road. We all count.